Tag: singareni colony

  • Baking Against the Odds: Tale of a Disappearing Bakery in Singareni Colony

    Authors: Tanaya Bhowal, Rittu Anilkumar Only a few things are as quintessentially artistic as a wood fire baked puff. The flaky, golden crust and the aromatic richness of these puffs showcase a level of craftsmanship and taste, that beats any machine produced alternatives, without a hitch. In the heart of Singareni Colony, we had found…

  • Working in and with the Dalit Women’s Collective – a Design Idea by Students

    Our engagement with the site at Singareni Colony would hardly have been possible without the unequivocal support of the Dalit Women’s Collective (DWC), that is embedded in the location. Sujatha Surepally, the Director of DWC, has many dreams for her constituents, and at the same time, for the growth of DWC. For instance, DWC was…

  • Modeling Heat Gain Scenarios in an Informal Settlement Using Volumetric, Material-specific Building Information

    Abstract and executive summary Data, simulation and analysis around heating in urban areas, especially in the Global South and even more so their informal settlements, is not commensurate with concerns about the same. While remote sensing and simulated heat island effects give us some glimpses into potential heat gains in the broader urban fabric, fine-grained…

  • Measuring Heat and Respondent Perceptions: Instrumentation

    Climate change has significantly contributed to intense heat waves in our cities, particularly affecting informal settlements. Hyderabad, one of the hottest cities in India, has witnessed its residents endure severe heat stress, as temperatures often soar to 40°C. Consequently, our project took on to comprehend the heat-related challenges faced by people living in informal settlements.…

  • Studying Heat in Informal Settlements: A Note on Methods

    The Cool Infrastructures project aims to understand all the ways in which heat plays a role in people’s lives. In particular, the project asks how people who live in informal settlements, whose location on the “grid” is tenuous, deal with, adapt to, and conceive of heat. Questions and Data In order to start answering these…

  • Understanding Extreme Heat in Informal Settlements: A Teaching Module

    Increasing incidence of events of extreme heat – higher temperatures and longerspells of higher temperatures – have been a matter of concern for institutions ofurban governance for the past decade. In India heat is largely understood in terms of disaster management framework. Governmental response has been limited to metropolitan regions and in a more diffused…

  • The City that Cannot Sleep: Heat in Low-income Neighbourhoods

    People in Singareni Colony – partly an off-grid urban informal settlement and partly a VAMBAY housing colony in south-east Hyderabad – live in houses that feel like blazing ovens. Even getting some quality sleep becomes a far cry in the summer. Sandwiched between different kinds of heat-trapping material and walls of congested houses without ample…

  • A Spatial History of Singareni Colony, Hyderabad.

    Contributors: Rahul Mishra, Goutham Raj Konda, Tanaya Bhowal Walking into Singareni on a warm sunny day, the sight of children playing, women collecting water from the water tanker, streets filled with spilt water from the water tanker, haphazardly hanging electric wires, some parked two wheelers, clothes hanging outside for drying are just come scenes which…

  • Building Context for Our Research in Singareni: Who Are Our Respondents?

    An integral component of conducting an urban heat study involved comprehending the heat perception of residents, their coping mechanisms, the actions they take, and how they adapt to extreme climate conditions. In the context of the project, the research team implemented the Time and Activity Perception survey in Singareni Colony, Hyderabad, commencing toward the end…

  • The Great Indian Kitchen: Narratives Around Cooking in Heat in Singareni Colony

    Contributor: Anushree Gupta What is your idea of a conventional kitchen? The kitchen is an important aspect of every household. It makes a house complete. For me, I picture it as a place where the aroma of home-cooked meals blends with a homemaker’s effort to put the food on the table. A fairly small but…

  • The ‘Everyday Social Life’ of an Off-grid Basti

    From engaging in everyday banters while sitting under a tree, to taking important life decisions while chatting at a tea-stall, social interactions with friends, neighbours, and relatives, form an important part of the everyday lives in Singareni Colony. Some kinds of socialising activities are related to conducting and attending life events and social events, while…

  • Data Dashboard – Climatic Data from 2 Locations in Hyderabad

    Contributors and workers: Abhijit Trimukhe, Chandbhai, Almas, Siraj and Swastik Harish One of the critical gaps in our understanding of heat and its impacts on people in informal settlements is simply the lack of data on temperature, humidity and other climatic parameters in such places. Weather data is typically restricted to government weather stations that…